International Journal of Research in Advent Technology, Vol.2, No.

8, August 2014
E-ISSN: 2321-9637

122

Biomethanation Plant for Vegetable Waste and Utilization
of Biogas Slurry

Ms.Jyothilakshmi.R
1
,Dr.S.V.Prakash
2
1.Asst.Professor ,Dept. Mechanical Engineering,M.S.Ramaiah Institute of Technology
2.Professor, Dept. Mechanical Engineering,M.S.Ramaiah Institute of Technology


Abstract: As India is moving towards sustainable development as for as energy needs are concerned, biogas as
biofuel may provide a sustainable solution to energy crisis by displacing oil use in agriculture and transport sector.
Biogas is an obvious choice and has a promising future in india due to tropical location, very high population of
livestock and wide variety of substrates available inabundance for biogas generation. An estimate indicates that
India has potential of generating 6.38*10
10
m
3
of biogas from 980 million tons of cattle dung produced annually. The
heat value of this amounts to 1.3*10
12
.In addition to gas around 350 million tons of organic manure would also be
produced. If organic wastes such as sewage, municipal solid waste, waste from industrial effluents can also be taken
as feedstock to increase biogas potential further. Current study deals with these aspects and also effective utilization
of slurry which is the byproduct of biogasification.

Keywords: BIMA Digester, Biogas, vegetable waste, Bio Energy

1. INTRODCUTION
Market wastes comprising of vegetable,fruits and
flowers of varying constituents are generated in large
quantities in cities and towns. These wastes being
organic in nature cause odour if they are not disposed
properly.In the present day practice market wastes
are collected and dumped along with municipal solid
waste in the landfills.Ministry of Non-conventional
energy sources(MNES)has identified market waste as
one of the key sectors having potential for energy
generation under UNDP/GEF((United
nationsDevelopment programme/Global environment
facility).

Fig No.1: Block diagram of biomethanation plant
1.1Waste Characteristics
Major components of the waste generated include
vegetable wastes(21%),fruit wastes(15%),flower
wastes(10%),banana stem and related materials(38%)
and packing materials(hay,straw,paper etc
16%).Contamination is around 10%.The moisture
content is 75%.The total solids and the volatile solid
content are 25% and 73.7% respectively.However the
overall efficiency of the biogas yield depends on
biodegradable nature of the constituents of the waste
as they degrade with different efficiencies.
Tables
Table 1. Organic Wastes and their estimated
availability in India
Sl. Organic Wastes Estimated quantity
1 Municipal solid 3.00 crore tons/year
2 Municipal liquid 1200 crore litres/day
3 Distillery 8057Kilolitres/day
4 Food,fruit & veg 45 lakh tons/year
5 Dairy industry wastes 5-6 crore litres/day
6 Paper and pulp 1600m
3
/day
7 Tannery(2000 units) 52500m
3
waste

International Journal of Research in Advent Technology, Vol.2, No.8, August 2014
E-ISSN: 2321-9637

123

Table 2: Design Data
Material Balance Quantity
Feed rate 30 tons/day
Water required to reduce the solid 32.5m3/day
Percentage conversion of volatile 55%
Total VS in the feed 5700Kg/day
VS loading rate 3Kg/m3/day
Hydraulic retention time 36.6 days
Biogas produced 2500m3/day
Sludge production(25% solids) 10tons/day
Energy Balance
Energy generated in the plant 5250Kwh/day
Auxiliary [power rrequirement 470Kwh/Day
Net energy for export 4780


1.2 Biodigesters
The biodigester is a physical structure, commonly
known as the biogas plant.Since various chemical
and microbiological reactions take place in the
biodigester, it is also known as bio-reactor or
anaerobic reactor. The main function of this structure
is to provide anaerobic condition within it. As a
chamber, it should be air and water tight. It can be
made of various construction materials and in
different shape and size. Construction of this
structure forms a major part of the investment cost.


Table above shows the various stages of
decomposition and the forms of the material at each
stage. The inorganic solids at the bottom of the tank
are rocks, sand,gravel, or other items that will not
decompose. The effluent is the semisolid material left
after the gases have been separated. The supernatant
is biologically active liquid in which bacteria are at
work breaking down the organic materials. A scum of
harder-to digest fibrous material floats on top of the
supernatant. It consists primarily of plant debris.
Biogas, a mixture of combustible (burnable) gases,
rises to the top of the tank.The content of biogas
varies with the material being decomposed and the
environmental conditions involved. When using
cattle manure, biogas usually is a mixture of gases in
the composition as shown in Table 1.1.

The largest, and for fuel purposes the most important,
part of biogas is methane.Pure methane is colourless
and odourless. Spontaneous ignition of methane
occurs when 4-15% of the gas mixes with air having
an explosive pressure of between 90 and 104 psi. The
explosive pressure shows that biogas is very
combustible and must be treated with care like any
other kind of gas.

2. STEPS IN THE PROCESS
1. Size reduction:The segregated waste is fed into the
shredder to reduce the size of the waste to a uniform
size of around 15-20mm.Shredders with the handling
capacity of 4tons/he are available.
2. Anaerobic digestionBIMA(Biogas induced
Miximg arrangement) digesterhas an unique system
of mixing which does not require mechanical moving
partsand also has an ability to control scum and
sedimentation while hadling high solid concentration.
3. Biogas collection:The biogas generated as result of
stabilization of the waste,leaves the BIMA digester to
a dry type gas holder made of a synthetic membrane
(polyester).The biogas would have a composition of
60% methane and 40%carbon dioxide.
4. Power generation:The biogas after removal of
hydrogen sulphide is used as fuel in the engine to
produce electricity.The gas is drawn from the gas
holder by gas blowers and fed into the gas engine.An
alternator is connected to the engine to produce
electricity.
5. Dewatering of digested substrate:The residue from
the digester is collected in an effluent buffer tank for
dewatering.Dewatering is carried out in a screw press
of capacity upto 6m3/hr.As the screw is rotated, the
material is moved forward and consequently the
pressure is increased. The centrate is discharged
through the openings in the curb and the dewatered
cake is discharged at the other end of the press.The
cake from screw press would be converted into
manure by composting.
6. Odour control system:Receiving
area,conveyer,shredder,feed preparation tank and
International Journal of Research in Advent Technology, Vol.2, No.8, August 2014
E-ISSN: 2321-9637

124

screw press are connected through PVC pipelines to
the biofilter to reduce the odour inside the plant.The
foul air from each location are sucked and passed
through the media impregnated with microorganisms
to remove odour.

3. USES OF BIODIGESTED SLURRY
Biodigested slurry is the by-product obtained from
the biogas plant after the digestion of the dung and
generation of the gas.It is a very good manure.The
nutrients contents NPK get enriched in the
biodigested slurry.The elemental analysis of
biodigested slurry using X-ray reveals that the
Silicon,Phosphorous,Sulphur,Potassium,Calcium and
iron are present with
65.595,8.275,3.1177.623,11.693 and 3.698 percent
respectively.
The biodigested slurry has a great potential as
organic manure and it can be applied to all
crops.Biodigestd slurry is as valuable as main
product of the biogas plant.In addition it reduces
pollution,save energy required to produce chemical
fertilizer.
Following are different methods of applying
biodigested slurry as manure:

1.Air dried biodigested slurry can be applied by
spreading on the agricultural land
2.The liquid slurry can be mixed directly with the
running water in the irrigation canal.
3.It can be coated in seeds prior to sowing
4.Can be used for fish culture The nutrient values of
bio digested slurry can be increased considerably by
means of enrichment. It can be enriched with
fertilizer nitrogen, phosphate etc.
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